The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-05-31
w4GRe THE HOMELESS SLEEP.
A Half Hour Among the Migrants In
New York Police Station.


| The room about thirty feet square. In
| the centre of it stood stove glowing
| with farvent heat. Upon the floor, packed
| together like clothespins in a box, lay
| sixty men. and one poor Maynard crea-
ture of the weaker sex. Most of the in
| mates were stretched upon boards about
| a foot wilc and seven feet long, one end
| of which lay on the stone floor, with the
| other end raised about ten inches. Some
| slept with their clothes on; others used
| their coats for pillows, and there were
| those still who had removed parts of their
clothing. and were making, abortive
efforts to conform to civilized usage with
the help Of checked jumpers and thread
bare Eandkerchiefs. At intervals rose
legs Ike inverted letter VS., resembling
pack ice in an arctic sea
The visitor picked his way gingerly
through tine PROSTATE figures to the stove
and surveyed the scene, and rs he gazed
he wished that the Queen of Sheba might
pass that way with frankincense and
myrrh. The snoring was unique and
varied. and ranged from the bass tones
of is:sN0on to the shrill nasal quality of
a cl3rlOnet. There was no ventilation;
even the paper carlking had been re-
placed after the shutting of the door, and
the heavy air reelled with heat and
noisomc Civilizations, and made the fog
and chill of the street seem Eden like Dy
comparison.
A number of late corners, who were
unable to obtain room enough in which
to lie down, had rropped themselves
against the wall and were consoled in
their discontinue by watching each new
conner as he looked around and realized
that if he slept at all he would have to
sleep standing.
Ono man had become weary with
standing. Seeing a vacant six inches of
board near him he made an effort to sit,
but was restrained by the squatter ON
that territory, who arose from his rectlm-
bent position and shook his grimy fist
Overwhelmingly.
IF you sit down there I'll crack your
skulIt''
Lie down, my friend and adjust
your beticlothing; you may catch cold,"
said the aggressor, sOOthingly.
An audible smoker ran around the
room, which was quickly repressed when
the squatter raised himself ON his elbow
and looked around, trying to detect the
ones who had the temerity to laugh in
that chamber of horrors.
His discovery of the culprits meant ex-
pulsion, and they knew it. He it was
who, by virtue of the fact that he at
tended to the fire and swept out the place
III the morning, was invested with a sort
OF unofficial authority, which he exer-
c!sed with the absoluteness of n car.
When he called out: Turn down that
lightv' ian incautious youth had turned
up the gas SO that he could read a news
paper) the glim was turned SO low that
ii TCsembled n taper on some sacrificial
altar. Having also called the attention
of several Migrants to the fact that they
were talking too loudly, a hush such rs
falls upon Il court room when the Judge
sentences n murderer fell upon the
place.
For the most part the inmates of the
room were professional FOUNDERS. who
never work and who subsist on the
charity of others. But there We're excp-
tons to this rule, who We're the victims
of unfortunate circumstances. One poor
fellow, who did the caulking under the
door, said that he had never spent a
night in such place before, and that he
had prosperous relations in this city, but
pride prevented his asking their assist
ance. He was kind enough to volunteer
q little advice.
If We hav' five cints in yer pocket"
said he, ''ye can go around to wan o.
all night. If We hav' tn price % a glass
o. beer We can sit in a chair all night, an
yc won't be kicked out at O'Clock in the
mornin', as We will be if We stay here"
Seeing that his listeners did not intend
taking his advice he turned the converse
ton into other channels.
Dye see tn gray haired Ould man
lyin' on that board! Well, in that check
jumper he's usin' for a pillow he has
grub ash last him three days. I'll war
rant he didn't do a tap o. work this
twcl'mOnth, but he'll go around an beg
all day, an sleep in tn park in the sum
Elcr and in tn station houses in tn
winter. He wouldn't be let sleep in one
station house all tn time, bekase tn po-
lice Gc.s acquainted with him, an thin
he'd be pulled up afore tn Justice and
stint t. tn island. So he works tn station
houses till he goes tn rounds
Here the story teller looked around the
room wearily, as though realizing the
fact that the supply of beds was not
equal to the demand, and resumed;
Its mighty airly in tn cvenin' We ii be
comm here if We wants t get a place L
lie down. Sliure most o tn chaps here
gets in afore dark. They hav' their
boards picked out, an they kapes 'em by
sticl1in' to EN-. They're sly as foxes
The recital was interrupted by the
opening of the door and the appearance
of man with a wooden leg. His coat
was soaked with rain, and n rivulct OF
water ran from his SLOUGH hat upon the
floor. lie east "a wistful eye toward the
stove, but the intervening sleeping figures
seemed an almost impossible barrier be-
tween him and the fire. The entrance of
the cripple had awakened some of the
slccpcTs, and twenty pairs of eyes watched
hin ssIs he stool upon his sound leg and
gyr;ltcd the wooden leg irresolutcly in
the air until Inc found space enough in
which to set it down. After good deal
of careful balancing. and many narrow
escapes from falling upon the PROSTATE
figure. lie reached the stove, the heat
from which turned the moisture in his
garments into vapor, which rose, like the
incense from misery, toward the ceiling.
He drew from his pocket faded red
bandanna handkerchief. As he held it,
torn anil wet. before him. the genial in
fluence Of the heat upon it added little
cloud To the rising vapor. AS the miser-
able cripple stood there in the dimly
lighted room. amid pestilential odors, and
giarcd ut 10y men who envied him even
the foot of floor upon which he stood he
seemed a striking illustration of what ac-
cident. misfortune, and weakness can do
for a man. Perhaps, thought the visitor,
as political economists have failed to- solve
the sGcioloGic question, it would BIZ better
for all concerned if the example of the
Indians were followed, and such men as
the cripple were taken into the woods and
Knocked III the head.
Bessemer's Steel Turrets.